Happy, Joyful, and Hope
by Salve-SiS
Summary: Formerly Domestic Life. It turned out before Jason died, he left something for his family to remember him by-and someone to heal him when he returns to Gotham hurt and angry at the world. *Drabble series starring Jason Todd and his young daughter Catherine Todd* Labeled Complete but will update when inspiration hits.
1. Year 1: First Day of School

**AN: The idea of Jason having a daughter has been stewing in my head for awhile. So I'm taking the plunge! Ah, this is gonna be so weird, writing Daddy! Jason.**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Batman, or Young Justice, there would be a Season Three, and there would be Jason Todd in it. That is all.**

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><p><em>(First Day of School)<em>

It was three in the morning when Jason caught his four year old daughter raiding the fridge.

"Catherine, what the he-what are you doing?"

Catherine was wearing her Cinderella costume from Halloween, complete with the headband and gloves. He had no idea how she could stand wearing such a poofy outfit in this kind of weather. "Hi Daddy! I was-I'm getting ready for school. Do you like my dress?"

She twirled around gracelessly; she swayed a bit before straightening up and looking up expectantly at Jason.

"You look very pretty sweetheart, but you're way past your bedtime. And school doesn't start for another four hours, anyway."

"I tried sleeping, bu-but I'm so excited I can't!" Catherine jumped up. "Daddy, can we-can we go now? I wanna go now."

"Catherine, school doesn't start until 7:30. If we went now we'd have to wait four hours until the doors opened."

"That's okay! We can play lots of games to pass the time, like hide and seek or tag! Or maybe we can go to the park instead!"

"Sweetheart, it's _late. _Come on, I'll tuck you in."

"But _Daddy, _I'm not _tired-"_

Jason picked up his reluctant daughter in his arms. As he escorted her to her room, she piped up: "Daddy? Can you tell me a bedtime story?"

He chuckled. "Sure thing, sweetheart."


	2. Year 5: Valentine's Day

_(Valentine's Day)_

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><p>Usually when Catherine came home, she talked Jason's ear off about what happened during school. This time however, she rushed into her room and refused to come out for half an hour. "Catherine?" Jason knocked on her door. "Catherine, are you alright?"<p>

"I'm fine!" She called out from inside, her voice muffled. He could her rummage through her desk.

"You've been in there for a while…What exactly have you been doing?"

"Nothing! Just give me a minute-_hey!" _

She'd forgotten to lock the door. Jason stepped into his daughter's room and surveyed the surroundings. Catherine lay on the floor, surrounded by crayons and construction paper. She squealed as she tried to hide something with her arms.

Jason crouched down and whisked the mysterious object from her grasp. "What's this?"

It was a card. She'd drawn a large red heart on the cover, and on the inside she wrote:

_Daddy,_

_I really, really, really, really, really love you!_

_From, _

_Catherine Avery Todd _

"Daddy, I wasn't finished!" Catherine complained.

"Is this my Valentine's Day card?" Her father asked with a smirk. "It's a day late, you know."

"It's not for Valentine's Day!" At this point, she had gotten up to her feet. She crossed her arms stubbornly. "Kim from school said it's _stupid _how people only give each other cards on Valentine's Day. Why can't people be nice on normal days? So I waited until today to make you a card. I was gonna add sparkles to it…" she hung her head with disappointment.

"I think it's perfect as it is." Jason said.

Catherine looked up. "Really?"

"Really."

Beaming, she tackled him with a hug around his legs. "I love you, Daddy."

He smiled gently at her. "I love you too, Catherine."


	3. Year 3: Father of the Bride

_(Father of the Bride)_

"Hey Daddy, can I get married?"

Jason choked on his beer. Wiping his mouth, he turned to face his seven year old daughter and simply asked, _"What?" _

Catherine blinked. "This boy in my class asked me to marry him, but I told him I wanted to ask you first. Can I, Daddy?"

"No! No, you can't!" He didn't mean to be so loud, and he knew it didn't mean anything, but he did _not _want to think of his daughter getting involved with boys anytime soon.

Catherine pouted. "Aw…"

Jason shook his head. "Why do you even want to…_marry _him anyway?"

"Well, he's really nice to me. Sometimes he shares his mom's cookies with me. I like him." Catherine smiled, ignorant to her father's rapidly increasing stress.

"I'm suddenly seeing ten years into the future," he muttered under his breath. "And it's not pretty."


	4. Year 1: Nightmares

**Disclaimer: The lyrics seen in this chapter are from the song "Lullaby" by Emmy Rossum. That is all. **

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><p><em>(Nightmares) <em>

They eat dinner quietly, and when he tucks her in he doesn't kiss her on the cheek like Mommy or Uncle Dick does. He says goodnight and maybe he wants to say more, but he just clicks the light off and leaves her to sleep.

So naturally she digs around in her suitcase and pulls her Rarity doll out. "Hi, Rarity," she whispers to the unicorn. "Were you lonely in there without me?"

Adopting Rarity's posh voice, Catherine says, _"Oh, sweetheart, I missed you so much! It was so boring without you!" _

"I'm sorry, Rarity, I missed you a lot too. But I was busy…spending time with…Daddy."

"_Daddy…? Oh, _that _Daddy! It must be so nice to meet him after all this time." _

Catherine smashes her lips together. She thinks about her friend Lizzy's Daddy, how he hugs her and twirls her around and calls her sweetie or baby girl. She thinks about Uncle Dick, how he buys her ice cream and calls her Katie, and even though she doesn't like being called that at least he _has _a nickname for her.

She thinks about Mommy, how she knew what her favorite foods were and her favorite toys and how she liked to be hugged and kissed and carried. Mommy had known everything about her.

Her daddy can barely look her in the eyes.

Catherine hugs Rarity close to her chest. She stays like that for what feel like hours and hours until she hears what sounds like screaming. She jumps and scurries under the bed, whimpering as the shouts continue. Eventually she realizes it's not going to stop, so she edges out from under the bed and begins her search.

She finds herself in Ja-Daddy's room. He thrashes around, his hands fly everywhere, and on his face is a look of complete terror and _so much anger. _His screams start to sound desperate, and Catherine fights the urge to run back to her room as she climbs into her father's bed. She wraps her arms around his stomach, and he immediately throws her off. She lets out a small cry of pain before climbing further up on the bed and hugging her father around the shoulders so that their faces touched. It is a struggle to hold on, but she does, and she tries to sing to help him get back to sleep.

"_Laying alone with the history that made you  
>Cold and uncertain inside<br>Well careful now, deep breath  
>The water's still rising but your silver lining's inside, <em>

_Close your eyes, don't you cry  
>Let the sorrow within you subside<br>Don't despair, have no fear  
>Give your way to me when you hear this lullaby," <em>

She can't remember all the lyrics, but the ones she does she sings shakily, tears streaming down her face as she thinks about her Mommy singing these same words to her. It hurts.

Finally, Daddy quiets down. He's shivering, his face is gleaming with sweat, but he's calmer than Catherine's seen him all day. He opens his eyes, looks at Catherine, and says, "C-Catherine, what…?"

"You were having a bad dream," she whispers. She's suddenly afraid he will get mad at her for staying up past bedtime. "So I tried singing you to sleep…but you woke up. I'm sorry."

He stares at her for the longest time. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but instead he pulls her close, resting his head on top of hers. She breathes into his chest, and doesn't say another word.

This is their first hug, Catherine thinks, before falling asleep in her Daddy's arms.


	5. Year 1: Easter

_(Easter)_

"Daddy, what did you used to for Easter?"

Jason blinked, turning from his work to his four year old daughter staring up at him curiously. "Hey...when did you get here?"

Catherine shrugged both her shoulders, and proceeded to ignore the question. "Mommy and me went to Church last year. It was soo boring, but Mommy said we had to go or else God would be sad, and later she bought me a chocolate for being a good girl. What did you and your Mommy used to do for Easter?"

"My mother was never a holiday sort of mom," Jason said, remembering all the Christmases and birthdays his mother spent high on drugs. "I remember there were a few kids though, who used to throw eggs at some of the people passing by the neighborhood."

Catherine's mouth opened into a perfect O. "That's so mean!"

"Some of them deserved it," Jason said. His daughter looked at him, startled, and he was quick to add, "But no, throwing eggs at people is wrong, so, ah, don't do it, okay?"

He _really _needed to work on this parenting thing.

Catherine nodded, chest and cheeks puffed out. "I promise, Daddy!"

"Good."

"Hey, Daddy?" She piped up after a minute or so of silence. "Will you buy me bunny ears?"

"Bunny ears...? Oh, uh, sure."

"Right now?"

"I'm a little busy right now, Catherine..." But then she widened her eyes and pouted so exaggeratedly that he sighed and got up on his feet.

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><p>Dick had no idea how Catherine managed it, but he was so taking her out for ice cream later.<p>

His little brother-his badass, (former) crime lord brother, was wearing a pair of black, fluffy bunny ears, and drawn on his cheeks were thick, wobbly whiskers. While Catherine, dressed in a similar matter except with a pink nose to boot, jumped around in the background asking if Uncle Dick could play Hide and Seek with them too, Jason glared at Dick and hissed, "If you tell _anyone-"_

"That you're a good dad?" Dick scoffed. "Like anyone would believe me."

Before Jason could curse his older brother out, Catherine hopped over to him and tugged his hand. Jason immediately turned all his attention over to her, and Dick took advantage of the moment by snapping a picture of the Todds and dashing out of the apartment, laughing as Jason shouted after him.


	6. Year 4: First Crush

_(First Crush)_

When Jason came home, it was to an extremely messy apartment with papers and markers scattered everywhere. Catherine lay on the couch, sleeping peacefully with a blanket messily thrown over her. The babysitter, Wilbur, lay on the floor, going through the handful of drawings. "Oh, hello Mr. Todd," the fifteen year old greeted him. "Sorry about the mess."

"Did she have any sweets?"

Wilbur grinned sheepishly. "I might have given her a few…"

Jason shook his head. "Tell me again why I trust you with my daughter?"

The teenager left the apartment laughing. He really should find another babysitter, Jason noted idly as he picked up Catherine's drawings, but the rest of the neighbors were too much of arrogant assholes.

He froze as he found a drawing of a stick figure with black hair and Wilbur's blue eyes. Hearts surrounded Wilbur's face.

His expression darkened, and he crumbled the drawing in his fist. He _definitely_ needed to find a new babysitter.


	7. Year 13: Mother's Day

_(Mother's Day) _

Catherine entered the hospital room quietly, a bouquet of flowers in her hands. A few flowers fell onto the floor as she pulled up a chair and sat beside her mother, but she paid this no mind. Grabbing her mother's hand, she spoke.

"Hi, Mom. I'm sorta skipping school today to visit you. I hope you don't mind, but they're doing this sort of Mother's Day celebration-I know, lame right?-and I-I couldn't stay there, I _couldn't. _All of my friend's mothers are there and…" Catherine inhaled deeply. "And I wanted to see you, I guess."

Her mother's chest rose and fell steadily, but other than that she showed no signs of life. The seventeen year old placed the bouquet of flowers on her mother's lap. "This morning I was racking my brains trying to remember what I did for you for Mother's Day back when I was a kid, and-and I can't remember." Catherine's lower lip trembled. "I'm trying so hard, but I can't remember what things were like back then, back when you-before the crash. Remember those home videos you and Grandma made? I was, uh, I was watching them a few days ago and…and it's not fair. We did so many things together…and I can't remember _any_ of it. I mean, I know I was just a kid back then, but you're my _mother. "_

"Ugh, look at me, I'm a mess. Not cool, Catherine, not cool." Catherine forced herself to laugh as she wiped away the tears falling down her cheeks. "Dad misses you a lot, you know. He tries to hide it but I can tell. I bet you missed him a lot, back when he was dead, huh? Uncle Dick says you were always so sad on my birthday because Dad wasn't there with us. Well, now you don't have to be sad anymore, because he came back…so could you come back too? Please?"

No response. Catherine rubbed her forehead tiredly, jumping when she felt her cell phone vibrate against her thigh. She glanced at the caller ID, sighed, and answered, "Hey, Dad."

"_Where are you? Your school called and-"_

"I'm with Mom."

"…_Catherine," _Her father sounded tired. _"You just saw her yesterday." _

Catherine shrugged even though she knew her father couldn't see it. "They were doing a Mother's Day dance at school, and a bunch of other kid's moms showed up to help set the whole thing and-Dad, would Mom have helped out with something like that?"

She had no idea where the hell that came from, but suddenly she was desperate for an answer.

Her father responded after a couple of seconds. _"…I think it'd depend on whether or not you were planning to go, but I don't think so. Mother Day's dances were cliché back when _I _was a kid, so she probably would have taken you out for dinner or something instead." _

"Oh." Catherine did not know what else to say. Except…"Do you think she'll ever wake up?"

"_If I can come back from the dead, she can wake up from a coma." _

Her father's voice was sarcastic, but Catherine could hear the longing beneath it. Thirteen years, and he still wouldn't give up. It was something they had in common. "Do I have to go back to school now?"

_"Do you have any tests?" _Catherine replied no. _"Then just...stay home for the day, I guess. You're lucky you never get sick, you know that sweetheart?" _

"I know, Dad. Thanks." Suddenly feeling decades older than her seventeen years, she hung up, turned back to her mother, and promptly gasped and stepped back in shock, unable to do anything but stare at what was right in front of her.

"Mommy?"


	8. Year 10: Papa Wolf-He Who Fights

_(Papa Wolf/He Who Fights) _

Jason remembered when he was a kid back in Crime Alley. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, he would hear women screaming faintly in the distance, until their screams abruptly stopped and were replaced by bitter, hysterical sobs. He'd trembled with rage, both at the bastards who were hurting them and at himself for not doing anything about it, for not being able to anything about it.

But now, he can.

He relentlessly pounded on the bastard underneath his feet, feeling a sick pleasure every time he moaned or screamed with pain. "No good, fucking bastard," he hissed as he hoisted the man up and pinned him against the wall.

The man moaned. "No, please-please-"

Jason growled, and twisted the man's wrist until he screamed. "I can kill you right here, and no one would give _two shits_ about it."

"Dad, stop!"

From behind Jason, his fourteen year old daughter watched in fear as her father raised his hand up for another punch. Her hair was ruffled, and the bottom of her lip was marked with bloody teeth marks. Jason paid her no mind, and threw the man back to the ground.

"Daddy, stop it! You're gonna kill him!" Catherine scrambled over to Jason and clutched onto his arm. She tugged at it and cried, "He's not worth it!"

"He doesn't deserve to live, Catherine," Jason spat, still not looking at his daughter. "He tried to rape you!"

"He's not _worth_ it, Daddy!" She repeated, this time more desperately. "Dad, _stop!..._"

_"You're scaring me!_"

The words had an instant effect on her father. He halted his beating of the would be rapist and turned to face his daughter, who stared at him through wide, terrified eyes. A new wave of anger threatened to crash into him at the sight of her bruised face, but those tearful eyes, begging him to go home, kept it at bay.

He put an arm around her, and she was quick to fall into his arms and break down.

He pressed his lips on her forehead for several seconds before lifting her head up by the chin and saying, "Come on. Before I change my mind."

"O-okay," Catherine wiped at her tear stained cheeks and glanced at the man still on the floor. "What-What about him?" A hint of rage entered her voice, and for a minute Jason could have sworn he heard himself speaking. "Do we just leave him here?"

"We should probably call someone," Jason said. "But you know, I'm perfectly fine with leaving him here to bleed out for a few minutes. Someone's bound to find him eventually." Or never, but he was fine with that too.

Catherine, who had tensed, relaxed and nodded.


	9. Year 1: First Meetings Part 1

_(First Meetings)_

**Part 1 **

It was night, and Catherine couldn't sleep. Oh, she tried. After her grandfather tucked her in bed, she counted sheep all the way up to ten until she deemed it a lost cause, fished out her Rarity doll from beneath her pillows, and freed herself from her blankets and went downstairs.

She'd been to her grandfather's house a few times in the past, but she never realized how big it was. Especially at night, it seemed like the inside overflowed with darkness. A surge of panic flew through her system, and she couldn't help but squeal when she heard what sounded like a window sliding open. Flinching away and squeezing Rarity tight against her chest, Catherine slowly turned to face the new presence, slowly opening her eyes so as to see what he looked like.

It was a young man, a little younger than her uncle, but not by much. He looked a little like those street thugs she saw on TV sometimes, with a leather jacket and dirt smudged on his cheeks and forehead.

Catherine cocked her head. "What happened to you, mister?"

"Wha-" the man turned his head to her, and his eyes widened. He obviously wasn't expecting her. "W…who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Catherine said. Duh. "With my grandpa and Alfred. What are _you _doing here? And how did you get all those cuts and stuff?" It was dark, but she could clearly see the scrapes and bruises on his face. The man turned his head away in response.

"Grandpa?" The man sounded confused, and even a little amused. "You don't mean-You're not talking about _Bruce." _

"Bruce Wayne was my daddy's daddy." Catherine nodded smartly. "Even though they don't have the same last name, but that's like me and my…" she faltered. "My mommy. My last name is different from hers, too."

The man crossed his arms. Catherine couldn't make out his expression very well through the darkness, but she could see something going on behind his eyes. "If Bruce is…you're Dick's kid, aren't you? Never thought he'd have a kid that young…"

"No," Catherine said. "Uncle Dick is my uncle. He's really nice. He gets me sweets even when Mommy say-said I couldn't have them before dinner, and he plays with me and my ponies a lot more than Grandpa does, because Grandpa is busy with work and he's too tough to play with Rarity and Pinkie Pie and even Rainbow Dash, which is silly because she's the toughest one in the show."

The man didn't seem to have heard her. Instead, he uncrossed his arms and crossed them again. "If you're not Dick's kid, whose are you?"

Catherine held up her Rarity doll, staring at her until she lowered her and gazed up at the stranger. "My daddy's name was Jason. Jason Todd."


	10. Year 1: First Meetings Part 2

_(First Meetings) _

**Part 2 **

Jason was dreaming.

This had to be some fucking dream, right? Because he did not hear this girl say what he just thought she said.

"You're…you're _what?" _He said in a strangled voice.

The girl seemed unaware of his distress. "My daddy's name is Jason Todd. He died when I was still in my mommy's tummy," she pointed at her own stomach for emphasis. "But Mommy says he can see me from up in Heaven, and he sends us kisses and hugs every day whenever the sun goes down and it's nighttime so the monsters can't get us."

Jason stared at the girl. He couldn't see her features much in this light, so he went over to where he remembered the switch was and flipped it on. The girl gasped with shock, and he took a good long look at her. She was tiny, maybe four years old going by her size and speech, with short black hair and the lightest green eyes he'd ever seen.

He'd seen those green eyes before. He had them. Sheila Haywood had them.

"What's your name, kid?" He didn't know how was able to sound so calm when his insides felt like they were screaming their heads off.

This wasn't impossible. Unlikely, certainly, unexpected absolutely, but as for impossible? There had been a particularly grueling mission not too long before his-his death, and he had returned battered but insanely relieved to be alive and to be able to see his girlfriend again, who had spent two weeks frantic with panic, and in their haze of relief and desire they had slept together. It was only once, but however cliché it was, it seemed like the once resulted in, well…

"Catherine."

"Catherine Todd, eh?" Figures _she'd_ do something like that. At least she wasn't named after Sheila. Though why his girlfriend thought naming their daughter after a drug addict was better he didn't know. Collecting his nerves he said, "Hopefully you can redeem the name, kid, because the first Catherine Todd wasn't the best rode model in the world."

The girl-his daughter-Catherine furrowed her eyebrows. "You knew my grandma?" She gasped. "Does that mean you knew my daddy, too? Was he like your best friend? What was he like?"

How lame would it be for him to pull a classic 'I am your father'? Probably a lot, and she wouldn't get the reference anyway. So instead he settled for this: "Yeah, you could say I'm good friends with your dad. I'll tell you about him later_. _Right now,I have things to discuss with Bruce."

"Promise?"

Jason gave her a small smile. "Promise."


	11. Year 2: Christmas

**AN: Merry Christmas, you guys! This is a quick drabble made especially for today.**

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><p><em>(Christmas)<em>

"Daddy, come on!" Catherine held onto Jason's hand tightly, yanking him forward into the crowds. "The parents get a backstage view of the whole play!"

Jason allowed himself to be dragged somewhat amusedly. In the past year since becoming a parent, he'd grown steadily more used to Catherine's excitable nature. "Who exactly are you playing as again?"

"I'm Rudolph the red nosed reindeer! None of the others wanted to be Rudolph, which is silly because he's so cute and cuddly. I have these fluffy ears and this big red nose and these little dog gloves-we're here!"

They reached the doors to the backstage, which Jason opened with ease after Catherine tried and failed to pull them apart. They were met with bustles of children, teachers, and parents getting ready for the school's Christmas play. They quieted a bit when they noticed Jason, but he was able to ignore their looks in favor of watching his daughter barrel over to the pile of costumes. The sight warmed his heart.

For a dead man's daughter, she certainly shone with light.


End file.
